This invention relates to motorcycles and is particularly concerned with a frame for motorcycles.
Traditionally, a motorcycle frame has been formed from metal tubes, suitably bent and welded together in such a manner as to facilitate the location of the major components of the motorcycle, the front and rear forks, the engine and the petrol tank. The bending and welding of tubes is a task that requires a high degree of skill on the part of the operator and is a time consuming and relatively expensive procedure. Also, the frame must be purposely built for one particular motorcycle, and cannot readily accept engines of different makes, shapes or size, nor can it readily allow alteration of the geometry of front or rear forks. All are important for motorcycles intended for any of the forms of motorcycle sport where ready adjustment or substitution of one major component by another more suited to the particular prevailing conditions would be highly advantageous.
In addition to the above, should a motorcycle be involved in a collision, damage to the frame can easily result in the need to replace the whole frame thus adding considerably to the cost of repair if indeed repair is deemed possible in the light of the cost of replacement frames.
One object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a frame for a motorcycle of considerably more simplified form than the tubular frames known hitherto, which allows ready replacement of the major components on the frame of the motorcycle, and which allows repair to the frame hitherto not possible.